As Apple device users, I think we’re all guilty of a common problem: we have far too many unnecessary photos in our photo library than we want. These might be photos we took once to share with friends, or screenshots captured to share with peers. Without regular cleaning, this often clutters our photo library, leading to unnecessary hogging of storage space.
Unfortunately, as of this writing, Apple doesn’t offer an option or feature for this. In my previous post, I shared how you can take a screenshot and send it without having it saved to your photo library, but this is limited to screenshots only.
Wouldn’t it be nice to also have the device automatically delete those one-off photos that we take after we send or share them?
Well, there is a workaround, sort of, that deletes a photo from your album after you’ve shared it. This involves using the Shortcuts feature, combined with Siri voice commands.
The trick is to create a Siri-enabled shortcut that automatically detects and deletes the latest photo after you’re done with it. By doing this, you will maintain a clearer photo library.
First, we’ll create a shortcut that will identify and delete the most recent photo in your album:
- Open the Shortcuts app and tap the + sign to create a new shortcut.
- Search for “Find Photos” and select it.
- Under “Sort by“, change “None” to “Creation Date“.
- For “Order“, switch “Oldest First” to “Latest First“.
- Enable “Limit” and adjust it to “Get 1 Photo“.
- Next, search for “Delete Photos” and add it below.
This shortcut will now look for the latest photo in your Photo Library for deletion.
To add a layer of safety, let’s include a confirmation step. Add the “Show Alert” action to the shortcut. This will prompt for confirmation before deleting the photo.
Last step: Choose a name for your shortcut that’s easy to remember and makes sense when you use Siri. For instance, you could name it “Delete Latest Photo“. Then, just say to Siri, “Hey Siri, delete the latest photo” to use it.
When you use the voice command, Siri will ask for confirmation, and then proceed to delete the said photo.
And there you have it! This simple shortcut helps keep your photo album uncluttered without the need for manual deletion.